Method and means for pleating drapes or the like



Get. 18, 1966' oM o ET AL METHOD AND MEANS FOR PLEATING DRAPES OR THE LIKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 2, 1963 INVENTORS RALPH ROMA/V0 SAMUE l. SAEW/TZ BY 5 Z 47 ATTORNEY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 18, 1966 R. ROMANO ET AL METHOD AND MEANS FOR PLEATING DRAPES OR THE LIKE Filed Dec. 2, 1963 INVENTORS RALPH ROMA/V0 BY SAMUEL SAEW/TZ 4 TTOP/Vf United States Patent 3,279,530 METHOD AND MEANS FOR PLEATING DRAPES OR THE LIKE Ralph Romano, Levittown, Pa., and Samuel Saewrtz, Levittown, N.J., assignors of ten percent each to Arthur H. Seidel and Harold B. Lipsius, five percent to Samuel Saewitz, and seventy-five percent to Ralph Romano Filed Dec. 2, 1963, Ser. No. 327,180 8 Claims. (Cl. 160--348) This invention primarily relates to a novel method and means for forming pleats in materials.

Heretofore, in forming pleats in materials such as drapes, it had been customary to bunch the material at points wherein a pleat was desired and sew this bunched material together. This involved a time consuming, expensive and exhaustive process. Furthermore, when the drapes or material were cleaned, the stitching used in forming the pleats would become loose. The pleats in the material, if they remained intact, would present an unattractive appearance.

As an alternative solution to the problem, a pleater tape was devised which was fastened to'the material. The pleater tape was adapted to receive metal fingers at spaced intervals along the material for forming the pleats therein. Again, this procedure was time consuming and involved a great expenditure of labor since the pleats had to be individually formed. Further, in order to clean the material it was necessary to remove all the pleats so formed. When the material was cleaned, the formation of each individual pleat had to be repeated.

The present invention contemplates the formation of pleats upon a material in a rapid and eflicient manner. In brief, the invention comprises a piece of elongated fabric strip secured to the back of the material to be pleated, for example a drape. Spaced loops are formed at predetermined points along the fabric strip. A flexible tape is secured to the fabric strip and drape and threaded through the loops formed on the fabric strip. The tape, once threaded through the loops and secured to the fabric strip and drape can then be pulled to bunch the material of the fabric strip and drape about the loops thus forming a series of pleats.

The tape once having been used to form the pleats, can then be reversely bent and threaded through the loops and temporarily fastened to the drape material. This will securely hold the pleats formed in place. Also, since the end of the tape will be temporarily fastened to the drape material, this fastening can be readily undone to remove the pleats when it is desired to clean the drapes. It is only necessary to then repull the tape to once again form the pleats in the drape.

Accordingly, it is the primary object of this invention to disclose a rapid and efiicient method and means for forming pleats on materials.

Another object of this invention resides in the disclosure of how to use a flexible tape on the back of the material to be pleated to rapidly and efiiciently form pleats in the material by merely pulling on the tape.

Yet another object of this invention resides in the disclosure of a flexible tape threaded through a fabric strip fastened to a material in which pleats are to be formed and wherein the tape can be used to 'hold the pleats formed in place.

Still another object of this invention resides in the fact that the pleats formed by the means of the present invention may be quickly undone in order to clean the material in which the pleats have been formed and once the material has been cleaned, the pleats may be quickly reformed and 'held in place.

Other objects will appear from the disclosure which follows hereinafter.

3,279,530 Patented Oct. 18, 1966 drape.

FIGURE 3 is a side view in elevation of the pleat forming means applied to a drape prior to the formation of the pleats in the drape.

FIGURE 4 is a cross sectional view taken substantially along the plane indicated by the line 44 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is a view in side elevation similar to FIG- URE 3 but illustrating the pleating means after the drape has been pleated.

FIGURE 6 is a cross sectional view taken substantially along the plane indicated by the line 6-6 of FIGURE 5.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the invention will be disclosed in conjunction with the formation of a plurality of pleats 12 upon a pair of drapes 10. However, it should be understood that the pleating means which will hereinafter be disclosed can be used in conjunction with anything that can be pleated, for example, shirts, bedspreads or clothing.

In order to pleat the drape 14, an elongated fabric backing member 16 is stitched or otherwise fastened by any suitable means to the drape 14 at the top thereof. A second elongated fabric strip 18 is stitched or otherwise secured to the drape 14 in overlying relation to the backing member 16.

The fabric strip 18 is slit at predetermined points along the length thereof to form relatively narrow loops 20 and relatively broad loops 22. The broad loops 22 are alternately formed between a pair of narrow loops 20 along the fabric strip. As is clearly seen in FIGURE 2, the broad loops 22 are more than three times as wide as the narrow loops 20. Also, the slitting of the fabric strip 18 results in the formation of intermediate width loops 21 which extend between each broad loop 22 and each of the narrow loops 20. The intermediate width loops 21 form pleats when the broad loops 22 are caused to abut the narrow loops 20.

A flexible tape 24 of cloth or other suitable material is threaded through the loops 20 and '22. The tape extends over the loops 21 and beneath the loops 20 and 22, as seen in FIGURE 2. The end of the tape 24 designated by the numeral 25 is fastened to the drape 14 and member 16 and fabric strip 18. This is shown in FIGURE 4 wherein one end of the drape 14 is shown bent back upon itself at 26 and stitched as shown at 28 to itself through the member 16, fabric strip 18 and the end of the tape 25.

With the elements of the invention in their operative disposition as illustrated in FIGURES 3 and 4, it will be only necessary to pull the end of the tape 24 remote from the end 25 to form the requisite pleats in the member 16, fabric strip 18 and drape 14. The completed pleated fabric is shown in FIGURES 5 and 6. As is apparent, by pulling on the end of the tape 24, the drape 14 and member 16 and fabric strip 18 will be caused to bunch adjacent the narrow loops 20. This is due to the fact that the drape 14 and member 16 and fabric strip 18 are being pulled by the tape 24 until the edges of the broad loops 22 abut the edges of the narrow loops 20. The materials in between the loops are pulled relative to the loops and bunch together to form the pleats.

When the complete series of pleats 12 are formed in the drape 14, the tape 24 is reversely bent upon itself. This is shown more clearly in FIGURE 6. The portion of the tape 24 which is bent back upon itself is spaced from the portion threaded through the loops by means of the last broad loop 22. The reversely bent portion of the tape 24 is, then rethreaded through the loops 20 and 22 and has its end 30 stitched as shown at 32 to the reversely bent portion of the drape 26. This enables the pleats to be held in place as the tape 24 is rigidly held at both of its ends.

The stitching 32is merely temporary and may be quickly undone when it is desired to clean the drapes. Upon undoing of the stitching 32, it is only necessary to pull the pleated portions of the drape apart to undo the pleats.

This can readily be done since the end 30 of the tape 24 is no longer held in place. The drapes then may be cleaned and to reform the pleats it is only necessary to pull the tape 24 taut once again and tack it by stitching or the like to the bent over portion 26 of the drape.

' To hang the drape 14, a drapery hook such as 34 may be used. The drapery hook 34 has a resilient clip 36 secured to .it. The clip 36 may be snapped over the loops 20 in between a pair of bunched portions of the pleated material.

It should thus be apparent that by the use of a flexible tape, pleats in a material may be readily formed by merely pulling on the tape. Due to the flexible nature of the tape, both ends of the tape may be tacked to the same end of the plea-ted material wherein the pleats can be readily held in place. Further, it is a simple matter to undo the pleats for cleaning of the material and to reformrthe pleats after the material has been cleaned.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific form's without departing from the spirit or essential at tributes thereof and, accordingly, reference shouldbe made to the appended claims, rather than to the foregoing specification as indicating the scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. Means for pleating a fabric strip comprising: spaced loops formed at predetermined points along said fabric strip, a flexible tape including a first portion threaded through said loops in one direction and a reversely bent portion threaded through said loops in an opposite direction, means at one end of said fabric strip for spacing said first and reversely bent portions of said tape and means for fastening opposite ends of said tape to the other end of said fabric strip, whereby pulling on said tape after the first portion thereof is threaded will cause a portion of said fabric strip to bunch about said loops and thereafter the fastening of the opposite end of said tape will hold the bunched portion of the fabric strip in place.

2. Means in accordance with claim 1 wherein the end of the reversely bent portion of said tape is temporarily fastened to the fabric strip.

of the reversely bent portion of said tape is temporarily fastened to the fabric strip.

5. Means for plea-ting a drape comprising: apiece of elongated fabric secured to the back of a drape, spaced loops formed at predetermined points along said fabric, a flexible tapethreaded through said loops and fastened to said fabric and drapes at one end thereof, whereby pulling said tape will cause said drape and fabric to bunch about said loops, means cooperating with said tape for holding said bunched fabric in place, said last named meansincludes means about which said tape is reversely bent and spaced from itself, and means for fastening said reversely bent portion of said tape to said one end of said drape.

6. A method for forming pleats in a fabric comprising the steps of: slitting the fabric at predetermined points therealong to form a plurality of loops, threading a flexible piece of material through the loops, fastening one end of the flexible material to one end of the fabric, pulling the flexible material through the loops thereby bunching the fabric about the loops, rethreading the flexible material through the loops after the pleats have been formed, and fastening the other end of the flexible material to said one end of the fabric to prevent the bunched material from falling out of place.

7. A method in accordance with claim 6 wherein said other end of the material is temporarily fastened .to the fabric.

8. Means for pleating a fabric strip comprising: spaced loops of relatively narrow width formed at predetermined points along said fabric strip, spaced loops of relatively broad width as compared with said loops of narrow width alternately formed between some of said narrow loops at predetermined points along said fabric strip, loops of intermediate width as compared with said broad and narrow loops extending between said broad and narrow loops, a flexible tape threaded through all of said broad and narrow loops and fastened to said fabric strip at one end thereof, said tape extending over said intermediate loops and under said broad and narrow loops, whereby pulling said tape will cause said broad loops to abut said narrow loops and thereby cause said intermediate loops to bunch and form pleats.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1932 Mantens 1 60344 6/1950 Martens. 348 

1. MEANS FOR PLEATING A FABRIC STRIP COMPRISING: SPACED LOOPS FORMED AT PREDETERMINED POINTS ALONG SAID FABRIC STRIP, A FLEXIBLE TAPE INCLUDING A FIRST PORTION THREADED THROUGH SAID LOOPS IN ONE DIRECTION AND A REVERSELY BENT PORTION THREADED THROUGH SAID LOOPS IN AN OPPOSITE DIRECTION, MEANS AT ONE END OF SAID FABRIC STRIP FOR SPACING SAID FIRST AND REVERSELY BENT PORTIONS OF SAID TAPE AND MEANS FOR FASTENING OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID TAPE TO THE OTHER END OF SAID FABRIC STRIP, WHEREBY PULLING ON SAID TAPE AFTER THE FIRST PORTION THEREOF IS THREADED WILL CAUSE A PORTION OF SAID FABRIC STRIP TO BUNCH ABOUT SAID LOOPS AND THEREAFTER THE FASTENING OF THE OPPOSITE END OF SAID TAPE WILL HOLD THE BUNCHED PORTION OF THE FABRIC STRIP IN PLACE. 